C&arlea  fraruis  SUiama 


THE  MONROE  DOCTRINE  AND  MOMMSEN'S   LAW. 

THREE   PHI   BETA  KAPPA  ADDRESSES. 

LEE  AT  APPOMATTOX,  AND  OTHER  PAPERS. 

CHARLES  FRANCIS  ADAMS. 
In  American  Statesmen  Series. 

RICHARD  HENRY  DANA. 
A  Biography.    With  Portraits. 

MASSACHUSETTS: 
Its  Historians  and  its  History.     An  Object  Lesson. 

THREE  EPISODES  OF  MASSACHUSETTS  HISTORY. 
I.  The  Settlement  of  Boston  Bay.  II.  The  Antinomian 
Controversy.  III.  A  Study  of  Church  and  Town  Gov- 
ernment. With  two  Maps.  2  vols. 


HOUGHTON  MIFFLIN   COMPANY 

BOSTON  AND  NEW  YORK 


THE  MONROE  DOCTRINE 
AND  MOMMSEN'S  LAW 


THE 

MONROE  DOCTRINE 

AND  MOMMSEN'S  LAW 

BY 

CHARLES  FRANCIS  ADAMS 


BOSTON  AND  NEW  YORK 
HOUGHTON  MIFFLIN  COMPANY 

(€t)E  fttorrtiDc  prcjtf  Cambrtboe 

1914  v 


COPYRIGHT,   1914,  BY   CHARLES  FRANCIS  ADAMS 
ALL   RIGHTS  RESERVED 

Published  May  JQIJ 


Read  before  the  American  Society 
of  International  Law,  Washington, 
April  22,  1914. 


THE   MONROE   DOCTRINE 
AND    MOMMSEN'S    LAW 

SIXTY-EIGHT  years  ago  the  6th  of 
December  last,  J.  Q.  Adams,  at 
the  time  serving  in  Congress,  had  oc- 
casion to  meet  George  Bancroft,  the 
historian,  then  Secretary  of  the  Navy 
in  the  Cabinet  of  James  K.  Polk.  Of 
what  passed,  Mr.  Adams,  after  his 
wont,  next  day  made  a  detailed  diary 
record.  In  so  doing  he  incidentally 
observed  that  the  manner  of  the  Sec- 
retary was  conciliatory  and  apparently 
cordial ;  and  then  added,  Mr.  Ban- 
croft "seemed  anxious  to  know  my 
i 


THE  MONROE  DOCTRINE 

opinion "  on  the  parts  of  the  annual 
message  of  Mr.  Polk,  transmitted  to 
Congress  a  few  days  previous,  relat- 
ing to  the  controversy  with  Great 
Britain  over  the  Oregon  boundary, — 
that  known  in  history  as  the  "  Fifty- 
four  Forty  or  Fight "  message.  Mr. 
Adams  then  went  on  as  follows :  — 
"  I  said  that  I  approved  entirely  of 
Mr.  Folk's  repeated  assertion  of  the 

|  principle  first  announced  by  President 
/  James  Monroe  in  a  message  to  Con- 
gress, that  the  continents  of  North 
and  South  America  were  no  longer 
to  be  considered  as  scenes  for  their 

I  future  European   colonization.   [Mr. 
Bancroft]  said  he  had  heard  that  this 


AND  MOMMSEN'S  LAW 

part  of  the  message  of  Mr.  Monroe 
had  been  inserted  by  him  at  my  sug- 
gestion. I  told  [Mr.  Bancroft]  that 
was  true;  that  I  had  been  authorized 
by  [Mr.  Monroe]  to  assert  the  prin- 
ciple in  a  letter  of  instruction  to  Mr. 
Rush,  then  Minister  in  England,  and 
had  written  the  paragraph  in  the  very 
words  inserted  by  Mr.  Monroe  in  his 
message.  It  was  Mr.  Monroe's  cus- 
tom, and  has  been,  I  believe,  that  of 
all  the  Presidents  of  the  United  States, 
to  prepare  their  annual  messages,  and 
to  receive  from  each  of  the  heads  of 
Departments  paragraphs  ready  written 
relating  to  their  respective  Depart- 
ments, and  adopt  them  as  written,  or 
3 


f 


THE  MONROE  DOCTRINE 

with  such  modifications  as  the  writer 
of  the  message  deemed  advisable. 
That  this  principle  thus  inserted  was 
disagreeable  to  all  the  principle  Euro- 
pean  sovereigns  I  well  knew/' 

The  very  memorable  passage  in 
Monroe's  message  here  referred  to  is 
familiar.  It  reads  as  follows:  — 

"  The  American  continents,  by  the 
free  and  independent  condition  which 
they  have  assumed  and  maintain,  are 
henceforth  not  to  be  considered  as  sub- 
jects for  future  colonization  by  Euro- 
pean powers.  .  .  .  We  should  con- 
sider any  attempt  on  their  part  to 
extend  their  system  to  any  portion  of 
this  hemisphere  as  dangerous  to  our 
4 


AND  MOMMSEN'S  LAW 

peace  and  safety.  With  the  existing 
colonies  or  dependencies  of  any  Euro- 
pean power,  we  have  not  interfered 
and  shall  not  interfere.  But  with  the 
governments  who  have  declared  their 
independence,  and  maintained  it,  and 
whose  independence  we  have,  on  great 
consideration,  and  on  just  principles, 
acknowledged,  we  could  not  view  any 
interposition  for  the  purpose  of  op- 
pressing them,  or  controlling,  in  any 
other  manner,  their  destiny,  by  any 
European  power,  in  any  other  light 
than  as  the  manifestation  of  an  un- 
friendly disposition  towards  the  United 
States." 

I  am  here  this  evening  scheduled 
5 


THE  MONROE  DOCTRINE 

to  speak  on  the  "  Origin  of  the  Mon- 
roe Doctrine/'  so  called,  and  it  is  in 
that  connection  I  quote  the  above  pas- 
sages from  the  "Memoirs"  of  J.  Q. 
Adams,  and  from  the  1823  message  of 
President  Monroe.  Historically  speak- 
ing, my  understanding  is  that  in  his 
remarks  to  Secretary  Bancroft,  Mr. 
Adams  only  referred  to  the  first  of 
two  distinct  and  widely  separated  pas- 
sages in  the  message  —  that  relating 
to  colonization' — as  originating  with 
him.  The  second  passage  bore  on  the 
aims  at  that  time  of  those  party  to  the 
Holy  Alliance ;  and  for  this  the  pa- 
ternity of  George  Canning  is  asserted ; 
though,  as  it  stands  in  the  message,  it 
6 


AND  MOMMSEN'S  LAW 

was  presumably  submitted,  "ready 
written/'  to  the  President  by  the  Sec- 
retary of  State.  A  distinction  between 
the  two  passages  must,  under  existing 
conditions,  be  observed.  As  I  shall^ 
presently  have  occasion  to  point  out, 
the  portion  of  the  message  of  1823 
which  related  to  colonization  is  now, 
under  existing  conditions,  practically 
obsolete.  It  is,  however,  to  a  degree 
different  as  respects  the  portion  relat- 
ing to  the  independence  of  American 
nations  in  the  sense  of  the  popular 
phrase  "America  for  the  Americans." 
In  this  respect  it  may  with  a  certain 
plausibility  be  claimed  that  the  Mon- 
roe Doctrine  is  still  alive,  a  sentiment 
7 


THE  MONROE  DOCTRINE 

the  strength  and  vitality  of  which  the 
lapse  of  years  has  not  impaired. 

Disposing  thus  of  the  Monroe  Doc- 
trine in  both  its  parts,  I  will  proceed 
further  to  premise  that,  as  we  all  real- 
ize, nothing,  whether  in  philosophy, 
history  or  law,  is  ever  definitely 
settled,  and  every  conclusion  supposed 
to  be  finally  arrived  at  is  sure  soon  or 
late  to  be  challenged.  Accordingly,  I 
want  it  at  the  outset  distinctly  under- 
stood that  I  am  not  now  claiming  for 
an  ancestor  of  mine  the  origin  of  the 
"Doctrine"  referred  to.  It  may,  I 
admit,  as  has  been  contended,  have 
been  developed  twenty  years  before ; 
nor  am  I  prepared  either  to  advocate 
8 


AND  MOMMSEN'S  LAW 

or  dispute  either  of  two  later  conten- 
tions,—  one  that  his  Secretary  of 
State  imposed  it  on  a  timid  President, 
the  other  that  a  Bismarckian  chief 
dictated  it  to  an  amazed  and  pallid 
scribe.  My  sole  present  purpose  is  to 
call  attention  to  the  fact  that,  as  it  ap- 
pears in  the  Message  of  1823,  the 
"  Doctrine  "  assumed  shape  from  the* 
pen  of  Mr.  J.  Q.  Adams,  then  Secre-^ 
tary  of  State.  Such  being  the  case,  we 
have  a  basis  on  which  to  discuss  not 
only  its  origin  but  also  its  significance 
and  intent.  Knowing  when  it  was  for- 
mulated and  by  whom,  we  have  to 
consider  the  environment  and  experi- 
ences of  him  who  held  the  pen,  and 
9 


THE  MONROE  DOCTRINE 

the  objects  he  had  in  view  under  in- 
ternational conditions  then  prevail- 
ing. 

The  "  Doctrine"  was  enunciated  in 
the  closing  months  of  1 823.  The  Sec- 
retary of  State,  who  put  it  in  form, 
was  then  in  his  fifty-seventh  year. 
Born  in  1767,  his  earliest  and  strong- 
est impressions  related  to  personal 
experiences  in  the  eventful  period 
between  1774,  when  his  memories 
began,  and  1782,  when,  a  youth,  the 
companion  of  his  father  and  the  other 
commissioners  representing  the  Amer- 
ican Congress  in  Europe,  he  practi- 
cally participated  in  the  negotiation 
which  transformed  the  United  States 
10 


AND   MOMMSEN'S   LAW 

from  the  condition  of  British  prov- 
inces to  an  independent  nationality. 
Later,  he  had  himself  come  into  pub- 
lic life  during  the  wars  of  Napoleon, 
representing  his  country  at  various 
European  courts,  —  The  Hague,  Ber- 
lin, St.  Petersburg,  and  London  — 
and,  from  'positions  of  close  proxim- 
ity, studied  anxiously  the  European 
situation  as  it  then  existed,  —  always 
with  a  view  to  American  interests. 

Bearing  these  facts  in  mind,  it  is 
not  difficult,  perhaps,  to  understand 
what  J.  Q.  Adams  was  driving  at 
when  he  set  forth  the  "  Doctrine." 
His  thought  naturally  reverted  to  the 
conditions  existing  in  his  own  coun- 
ii 


THE  MONROE  DOCTRINE 

try  prior  to  and  during  the  Revolu- 
tionary War,  —  that  is,  the  "  Colonial 
Period  "  and  the  "  Provincial  Status/' 
—  his  mind  being  influenced  and  his 
expression  colored  by  what  he  pre- 
sumably had  observed  and  gone 
through  during  a  long  and  intimate 
subsequent  European  diplomatic  ex- 
perience. He  was  one  of  the  very  few 
who  at  that  juncture  understood  both 
American  conditions  and  European 
modes  of  thought  and  procedure.  Un- 
der these  conditions,  what  must  he 
have  been  aiming  at  when  he  drafted 
the  passages  submitted  by  him,  and 
incorporated  in  President  Monroe's 
Message  of  1823?  To  reach  a  con- 
12 


AND  MOMMSEN'S  LAW 

elusion  on  that  point,  it  is  necessary 
in  the  first  place  to  separate  ourselves 
from  the  present  and  have  a  clear  con- 
ception of  conditions  then  existing.  It 
is  to  be  remembered  that  in  1823  the 
world,  just  emerged  from  the  Napo- 
leonic wars,  was  still,  as  compared 
with  what  it  now  is,  largely  mediaeval. 
Napoleon,  "  the  armed  soldier  of 
Democracy,"  as  he  has  been  some- 
times termed  in  that  stilted  phraseol- 
ogy in  which  men  so  delight,  had  been 
effectually  suppressed.  He'was  extin- 
guished ;  and  the  turn  of  the  despots 
had  come.  The  "  Holy  Alliance/'  so  | 
called,  signifying  the  absolute  sup- 
pression of  popular  government,  was 
13 


THE  MONROE  DOCTRINE 

in  full  swing.  The  United  States  had 
emerged  from  the  War  of  1 8 1 2  a  rec- 
ognized sea  power;  and  the  Spanish 
dependencies  in  America  were  carry- 
ing on  their  long  struggle  with  the  so- 
called  "  mother  country/'  So  Mon- 
roe's Secretary  of  State,  recalling  the 
experiences  of  his  early  youth  and  the 
lessons  he ,  had  later  learned  in  Eu- 
rope, framed  the  "Doctrine"  as  a 
manifesto  of  somewhat  defiant  char- 
acter. Issued  in  the  face  of  Europe, 
it  was  aimed  at  further  American  col- 
onization by  European  powers,  com- 
bined with  the  proposed  suppression 
by  them  of  the  struggling  Latin- 
American  nationalities.  It  was,  so  to 


AND  MOMMSEN'S  LAW 

speak,  a  formal  notification  on  the  part 
of  the  American  Republic,  designed 
primarily  to  administer  a  check  to  any 
colonizing  intentions  on  the  part  of 
European  powers,  as  colonization  was 
understood  in  the  period  preceding 
the  "  Sphere  of  Influence  "  dispensa- 
tion. Colonization,  meanwhile,  was 
in  1823  an  entirely  different  thing 
from  what  it  is  now.  The  colony  was 
in  the  European  conception  what  it 
had  been  in  the  days  of  Athens,  —  a 
dependency  and  adjunct  of  the  mother 
state.  Going  further,  the  Holy  Alli- 
ance, quoad  America,  was  a  reactionary 
movement  looking  to  the  perpetua- 
tion of  that  colonial  status  which 
'5 


THE   MONROE  DOCTRINE 

Mr.  Adams  so  distinctly  recalled 
among  the  memories  of  his  child- 
hood. Out  of  that  status  the 
United  States  had  painfully  strug- 
gled, and  the  idea  of  Mr.  Adams  was 
to  encourage  other  American  colonies 
to  move  along  the  same  lines  to  a  sim- 
ilar result.  On  the  other  hand,  know- 
ing little  or  nothing  of  the  antecedents 
of  those  colonies  and  dependencies,  he 
gravely  misconceived  the  situation. 
He  had  his  countrymen  and  the  Eng- 
lish-speaking communities  always  in 
mind. 

Meanwhile,  every  single  condition 
referred  to  has  since  ceased  to  exist. 
The   character   of  the  problem   has 
16 


AND  MOMMSEN'S   LAW 

wholly  changed.  In  the  first  place, 
both  the  American  continents  are  now 
occupied,  and  occupied  by  responsible 
and  independent  powers  —  this  with 
the  exception  of  certain  English- 
speaking  dominions  and  dependen- 
cies, practically  self-governing. 

On  the  other  hand,  new  industrial, 
financial,  and  racial  movements  have 
asserted  themselves.  In  1 8  2  3  in  this  re- 
spect wholly  undeveloped,  the  Amer- 
icas, North  and  South,  are  now  a  fa- 
vorite field  for  European  investment. 
Their  railroad  lines,  their  banks,  their 
improvements  ol  every  character,  are 
largely  held,  and,  in  many  cases,  con- 
trolled and  managed,  in  European  fi-> 


• 


THE  MONROE  DOCTRINE 

nancial  circles.  A  tide  of  emigration 
of  the  most  pronounced  character, 
composed  of  many  different  currents, 
has  developed,  from  every  country  in 
Europe.  This,  as  a  voluntary  migra- 
tion and  in  its  present  form,  dates  from 
the  Irish  movement  which  set  in  a 
score  of  years  after  the  Monroe  Doc- 
trine was  promulgated.  The  more  re- 
cent movements  do  not  need  to  be 
referred  to. 

It  is,  however,  a  noticeable  feature 
in  our  American  development  that  so 
far  from  bringing  with  them  their  own 
government,  laws,  and  political  institu- 
tions, there  is  no  portion  of  the  Amer- 
ican population  which  would  regard 
it 


AND  MOMMSEN'S  LAW 

with  so  little  favor  the  introduction  of 
European  methods  or  mother-country 
practices  as  emigrants  to  America 
taken  as  a  whole.  This  is  true  of  the 
English,  the  French,  the  German,  the 
Italian  and  the  Slav  no  less  than]  of 
the  Irish.  One  and  all,  they  would 
object  even  more  than  the  stock  known 
as  "native  American"  to  that  form 
of  colonization  at  which  the  Monroe 
Doctrine  was  .aimed.  The  "Doc- 
trine" as  enunciated,  therefore,  is  now 
obsolete.  It  has  no  apparent  application 
to  existing  conditions  and  theories. 

Moreover,  it  is  to  be  remembered 
that  it Jsj.  "  Doctrine,"  and  in  no  re- 
spect a  natural  Jaw;  and  if,  I  next 
19 


THE  MONROE  DOCTRINE 

submit,  there  is  one  thing  politically 
more  dangerous  than  another,  it  is  a 
"Doctrine,"- so  called,  misapplied,  or 
one  which,  having  lost  its  original  sig- 
nificance, is  now  applied  in  an  unin- 
telligent way,  or  a  "Jingo"  spirit. 
Such  a  "  Doctrine,"  degenerated  into 
a  cult  or  fetish,  is  apt  to  come  in  im- 
pact with  some  real  underlying  law  of 
Nature  and,  when  it  does,  the  result 
is  —  the  unexpected  ! 

Numerous  examples  at  once  sug- 
gest themselves  of  these  "Doctrines," 
hardened  into  accepted  cults.  Let  one 
suffice.  The  "  Balance  of  Power  Doc- 
trine," now  a  by-word,  a  century  ago 
was  a  terrible  reality.  Of  it  John 

20 


AND  MOMMSEN'S^LAW 

Bright  —  always  a  name  to  conjure 
with  in  America  —  has  said  :  — 

"  I  think  I  am  not  much  mistaken 
in  pronouncing  the  theory  of  the  bal- 
ance of  power  to  be  pretty  nearly  dead 
and  buried.  You  cannot  comprehend 
at  a  thought  what  is  meant  by  that 
balance  of  power.  If  the  record  could 
be  brought  before  you  —  but  it  is  not 
possible  to  the  eye  of  humanity  to  scan 
the  scroll  upon  which  are  recorded  the 
sufferings  which  the  theory  of  the  bal- 
ance of  power  has  entailed  upon  this 
country.  It  rises  up  before  me  when  I 
think  of  it  as  a  ghastly  phantom  which 
during  one  hundred  and  seventy  years, 
whilst  it  has  been  worshipped  in  this 

21 


THE  MONROE  DOCTRINE 

country,  has  loaded  the  nation  with 
debt  and  with  taxes,  has  sacrificed  the 
lives  of  hundreds  of  thousands  of  Eng- 
lishmen, has  desolated  the  homes  of 
millions  of  families.  ...  I  am  very 
glad  to  be  able  to  say  that  we  may  re- 
joice that  this  foul  idol- —  fouler  than 
any  heathen  tribe  ever  worshipped  — 
has  at  last  been  thrown  down,  and  that 
there  is  one  superstition  less  which  has 
its  hold  upon  the  minds  of  English 
statesmen  and  of  the  English  people." 
Is  it  not  barely  possible  that,  as 
things  are  now  tending,  a  century 
hence  some  future  statesman  or  pub- 
licist may  comment  in  not  dissimilar 
terms  on  our  Monroe  Doctrine,  the 

22 


AND  MOMMSEN'S  LAW 

scope  and  significance  of  which  is  to- 
day, I  submit,  as  little  understood  as 
was  the  scope  and  significance  of  the 
"Balance  of  Power  Doctrine"  in 
Europe  a  century  ago  ? 

Returning,  however,  to  my  proper 
theme,  the  origin  of  the  Monroe  Doc- 
trine, while  to-day's  existing  condi- 
tions never  in  the  remotest  degree 
entered  into  the  conception  of  the 
framer  of  that  "  Doctrine/'  and  the 
conditions  which  then  confronted  him 
have  since  wholly  disappeared  —  it  is 
interesting  to  consider  what  results 
he  contemplated  as  likely  to  ensue  at 
a  not  remote  day  from  the  position 
assumed.  Two  of  those  results  are,  I 


THE  MONROE  DOCTRINE 

think,  apparent  and  indisputable.  I 
refer,  of  course,  to  results  existing  in 
his  conception  of  the  probable  out- 
come of  the  future  as  forecast  from 
the  1823  standpoint. 

Of  "  Hegemony "  we  now  hear 
much.  As  a  political  term  it  had  in 
1823  not  come  into  existence.  Greek 
in  origin,  even  as  late  as  1860  it  was 
explained  in  the  London  "Times"  as 
"leadership  among  states,"  or,  as  that 
"land  of  professors"  phrased  it,  "the 
hegemony  of  the  Germanic  Confed- 
eration." The  origin  of  the  term  must, 
of  course,  be  looked  for  in  the  history 
of  ancient  Greece,  where  it  signified 
the  leadership  of  Athens  on  the  one 
24 


AND  MOMMSEN'S  LAW 

hand,  and  Sparta  on  the  other.  There 
can  be  no  question  that  when  enunci- 
ating the  famous  "Doctrine,"  Mon- 
roe's Secretary,  a  student  of  history  as 
well  as  a  scholarly  man,  had  in  mind 
a  family  of  American  States  under 
the  hegemony,  or,  as  he  would  have 
expressed  it,  the  leadership,  of  the 
United  States;  this  country  alone 
having  then  achieved  a  standing 
among  nations,  as  well  as  independ- 
ence. Using  a  familiar  form  of 
speech,  the  United  States  was,  in  Mr. 
Adams's  mind,  to  be  the  "  Big  Bro- 
ther" in  that  family  circle.  This  fact 
is  evidenced  in  the  struggle  over  the 
Panama  Congress,  subsequently  such  a 
25 


THE  MONROE  DOCTRINE 

distinctive  feature  in  the  J.  Q.  Adams 
Administration.  The  scheme,  as  we 
all  know,  proved  abortive,  and  sub- 
sequent experience  shows  clearly  that 
neither  Mr.  Adams  nor  Mr.  Clay  had 
any  realizing  sense  of  the  limitations 
under  which,  humanly  speaking,  he- 
gemony was  practicable.  Indeed,  at 
that  time  those  limitations  had  not 
forced  themselves  on  the  minds  of 
public  men.  Napoleon,  for  instance, 
planned  that  Eastern  Europe,  wholly 
irrespective  of  racial  considerations, 
was  to  constitute  a  family,  or  circle, 
of  kingdoms  under  the  hegemony  of 
France.  He  had  not  the  faintest  con- 
ception of  a  limiting  law.  We,  a  cen- 
26 


AND  MOMMSEN'S  LAW 

tury  later,  after  abundant  lessons  al- 
most as  severe  as  those  incident  to  the 
"Balance  of  Power"  dispensation, 
have  had  occasion  to  realize  that  he- 
gemony, practically  speaking,  is  only 
possible  with  communities  of  the  same 
racial  descent.  A  distinctly  foreign 
element  invariably  asserts  a  disturbing 
presence.  This,  before  his  downfall, 
Napoleon  had  occasion  to  realize;  and 
now  the  law  may  be  studied  in  oper- 
ation in  the  cases  of  Norway  and 
Sweden,  Holland  and  Belgium,  Aus- 
tria and  Italy,  Austro-Hungary,  Great 
Britain  and  Ireland,  and  most  recent 
of  all,  in  that  of  the  Balkans.  It  is 
a  long  record^  of  unending  discords. 
27 


THE  MONROE  DOCTRINE 

Results  in  such  cases  are  never  satis- 
factory. For  this  reason,  and  under 
conditions  now  existing  on  the  two 
American  continents,  the  hegemonic 
application  of  the  Monroe  Doctrine 
is,  I  confidently  submit,  out  of  the 
question.  Racial  limitations  bar  the 
way.  So  much  for  hegemony,  and 
the  law  of  its  limitation.  I  now  pass 
to  another  law. 

I  will  call  it  "  Mommsen's  Law/' 
because  nowhere  else  than  in  Momm- 
sen's "  History  "  have  I  seen  it  stated 
with  such  Germanic  directness,  bor- 
dering on  brutality.  This  "Law" 
reads  as  follows  :  — ; 

"  By  virtue  of  the  law,  that  a  people 
28 


AND  MOMMSEN'S  LAW 

which  has  grown  into  a  state  absorbs 
its  neighbors  who  are  in  political  non- 
age, and  a  civilized  people  absorbs  its 
neighbors  who  are  in  intellectual  non- 
age,—  by  virtue  of  this  law,  which  is 
as  universally  valid  and  as  much  a  law 
of  nature  as  the  law  of  gravity,  —  the 
Italian  nation  (the  only  one  in  anti- 
quity which  was  able  to  combine  a 
superior  political  development  and  a 
superior  civilization,  though  it  pre- 
sented the  latter  only  in  an  imperfect 
and  external  manner)  was  entitled  to 
reduce  to  subjection  the  Greek  states 
of  the  East  which  were  ripe  for  de- 
struction, and  to  dispossess  the  peo- 
ples of  lower  grades  of  culture  in  the 
29 


THE  MONROE  DOCTRINE 

West —  Libyans,  Iberians,  Celts,  Ger- 
mans—  by  means  of  its  settlers;  just 
as  England  with  equal  right  has  in 
Asia  reduced  to  subjection  a  civiliza- 
tion of  rival  standing  but  politically 
impotent,  and  in  America  and  Aus- 
tralia has  marked  and  ennobled,  and 
still  continues  to  mark  and  ennoble, 
extensive  barbarian  countries  with  the 
impress  of  its  nationality.  ...  It  is 
the  imperishable  glory  of  the  Roman 
democracy  or  monarchy — for  the  two 
coincide  —  to  have  correctly  appre- 
hended and  vigorously  realized  this  its 
highest  destination."  ' 

Not  until  the  framer  of  the  Mon- 

1  History  of  Romt^  book  v,  chap.  viu. 

30 


AND  MOMMSEN'S  LAW 

roe  Doctrine  had  been  ten  years  in 


his  grave  did  Mommsen  lay  the  law 


down  in  these  terms ;  yet  Mr.  Adams 
manifestly  had  its  essence  clearly  in 
mind  when  he  penned  the  "Doc- 
trine" incorporated  in  the  message  of 
1823.  In  Europe  he  had  been  a  care- 
ful observer  of  the  forcible  goings-on 
of  Napoleon  —  Napoleonic  "Benev- 
olent Assimilation  "  !  He  had  repre- 
sented this  country  in  Russia  for  a 
number  of  years;  and,  as  a  reminis- 
cence of  that  struggle  for  independ- 
ence which  had  figured  so  largely  in 
the  memory  of  his  childhood,  he 
vividly  recalled  the  partition  of  Po- 
land. It  is  unnatural  to  assume  that 
31 


THE  MONROE  DOCTRINE 

these  memories  and  lessons  were  not 
uppermost  in  his  mind  when  he 
put  the  Monroe  Doctrine  in  written 
shape.  So  far  as  Europe  and  Momm- 
sen's  Law  were  concerned,  exempli- 
fied in  the  case  of  Poland  and  practiced 
by  Napoleon,  he  wished  to  lay  down 
for  America  a  doctrine  of"  hands  off." 
And  this  he  did. 

While  both  "Hegemony"  and 
"Mommsen's  Law"  were  thus  dis- 
tinctly present  in  the  enunciation  of 
the  Monroe  Doctrine,  the  last  en- 
tered into  consideration  only  so  far 
as  Europe  was  concerned ;  and,  from 
that  point  of  view,  the  "  Doctrine  " 
served  its  purpose.  Both  Mommsen's 
32 


AND  MOMMSEN'S  LAW 

Law  and  the  law  of  hegemonic 
limitation  are,  however,  still  opera- 
tive ;  nor  can  they  be  left  out  of  con- 
sideration in  any  discussion  of  the 
"  Doctrine"  in  its  present  possible  ap- 
plication and  practical  working.  The 
question  presents  itself,  —  Has  the 
United  States,  as  the  original  "  Big 
Brother,"  and  now  the  dominant  Am- 
erican world-power,  taken  in  this 
matter  the  place  of  Europe?  In 
other  words,  conceiving  a  family  of 
American  States,  it  is  well  to  bear 
in  mind  that,  while  the  Monroe  Doc- 
trine proper  has  become  inoperative, 
the  law  of  limitations  in  the  case 
of  "Hegemony"  and  "  Mommsen's 
33 


THE  MONROE  DOCTRINE 

Law  "  is,  and  will  remain,  in  opera- 
tion. This  Mr.  Adams  had  occasion 
to  realize  in  the  latter  years  of  his  life, 
though  it  is  questionable  whether  he 
ever  appreciated  the  operation  of  the 
law  he  had  vetoed  as  respects  Europe 
when  working  to  the  accretion  of  his 
own  country.  He  certainly  offered  all 
the  resistance  in  his  power  to  it  when 
it  presented  itself  under  the  guise  of  a 
"  Reannexation  of  Texas,"  and  in  the 
name  of  "Manifest  Destiny."  Natural 
laws  in  their  operation  have  thus  a 
way  of  assuming  strange  names ;  later 
we  meet  "  Mommsen's  Law,"  re- 
christened  as  the  "Ostend  Manifesto," 
and  only  recently  it  again  masquer- 
34 


AND  MOMMSEN'S   LAW 

aded  as  "Benevolent  Assimilation." 
All  these,  however,  are  merely  aliases; 
"Sphere  of  Influence"  is  the  very 
latest.  Be  not  in  this  matter  deceived 
by  forms  of  speech.  Keep  in  mind 
the  French  aphorism  —  Cbercbez  la 
femme  ! 

I  state  these  propositions  in  connec- 
tion with  my  theme,  the  "  Origin  of 
the  Monroe  Doctrine."  It  is  for  oth- 
ers, during  the  discussions  now  begun, 
to  refer,  as  Mr.  Root  has  this  evening 
done,  to  the  "Doctrine"  historically, 
to  the  glosses  attempted  on  it,  miscon- 
ceptions which  prevail  concerning  it, 
and  the  limitations  which  have  devel- 
oped in  its  operation.  With  these  prop- 
35 


THE  MONROE  DOCTRINE 
ositions  I  have  no  concern.  I  confine 
my  contribution  to  the  origin  of  the 
"  Doctrine/'  the  conditions  which 
prevailed  at  the  time  it  was  enunciated, 
and  the  fact  that  another  world  has 
since  come  into  existence.  Further- 
more, it  is  hardly  necessary  for  me, 
addressing  this  particular  audience,  to 
say  that  I  speak  neither  as  an  origin- 
ator nor  an  advocate.  I  merely  call  at- 
tention to  an  alleged  natural  Law,  pro- 
pounded many  years  ago  by  an  emi- 
nent publicist  and  historian.  His  state- 
ment of  it  may  be  correct,  and  it  may 
be  a  law  of  universal  application ;  possi- 
bly, on  the  other  hand,  it  is  a  figment 
of  Mommsen's  imagination,  or  appli- 

36 


AND  MOMMSEN'S  LAW 

cable  only  locally.  These  aspects  of 
the  case  are  no  affair  of  mine.  I  merely 
quote  the  law  as  enunciated,  and  call 
attention  to  its  possible  relations  with 
the  Monroe  Doctrine.  I  draw  no  in- 
ferences, much  less  advocate  or  urge 
acceptance.  I  refer  to  this  law  exactly 
as  I  would  refer  to  the  law  of  gravity, 
were  I  here  discoursing  on  the  de- 
velopment of  aeronautics.  None  the 
less,  when  the  Monroe  Doctrine  is 
considered  in  connection  with  the 
law  of  hegemonic  limitation  and 
"  Mommsen's  Law,"  the  apparent 
logic  of  to-day's  Mexican  situation ' 

1  This  paper  was  read  at  the  first  session  of 
the  Eighth  Annual   Meeting  of  the  American 

37 


THE  MONROE   DOCTRINE 

accentuates  itself.  It  was,  I  believe, 
Secretary  Olney,  who,  some  twenty 
years  ago,  laid  down  the  principle 
that  the  United  States  is  "practi- 
cally sovereign  on  this  continent,  and 
that  its  fiat  is  law  upon  the  subject  to 
which  it  confines  its  interposition/' 
In  other  words,  the  United  States  is  as 
respects  the  field  in  question  a  law 
unto  itself.  It  defines  the  limits  and 
character  of  its  suzerainty.  Not  unnat- 

Society  of  International  Law,  at  Washington, 
D.C.,  the  evening  of  April  22,  1914;  on  the 
previous  day  (Tuesday,  April  21)  Vera  Cruz 
had  been  occupied  by  the  United  States  naval 
forces,  acting  under  the  order  of  President  Wil- 
son, issued  in  consequence  of  the  Tampico  in- 
cident and  the  consequent  attitude  of  the 
Huerta  Government. 

38 


AND  MOMMSEN'S  LAW 

urally  the  sensibilities  of  other  mem- 
bers of  the  American  family  of  nations 
were  more  or  less  disturbed  by  this 
utterance,  indisputably  Delphic  while 
in  no  way  called  for  by  the  necessities 
of  the  case  in  hand.  However,  not  to 
be  outdone,  and  with  a  view  perhaps 
to  clearing  away  any  oracular  obscur- 
ity in  the  previous  utterance,  President 
Roosevelt  a  few  years  later  [1904] 
thus  further  expanded,  while  expound- 
ing, the  "  Doctrine  "  :  — 

"It  is  not  true  that  the  United 
States  feels  any  land  hunger  or  enter- 
tains any  projects  as  regards  other 
nations  of  the  Western  Hemisphere 
save  such  as  are  for  their  welfare.  All 
39 


THE  MONROE  DOCTRINE 

that  this  country  desires  is  to  see  the 
neighboring  countries  stable,  orderly, 
and  prosperous.  Any  country  whose 
people  conduct  themselves  well  can 
count  upon  our  hearty  friendship.  If 
a  nation  shows  that  it  knows  how 
to  act  with  reasonable  efficiency  and 
decency  in  social  and  political  mat- 
ters, if  it  keeps  order  and  pays  its 
obligations,  it  need  fear  no  interfer- 
ence from  the  United  States.  Chronic 
wrongdoing,  or  an  impotence  which 
results  in  a  general  loosening  of  the 
ties  of  civilized  society,  may,  in 
America  as  elsewhere,  ultimately  re- 
quire intervention  by  some  civilized 
nation,  and  in  the  Western  Hemi- 
40 


AND  MOMMSEN'S  LAW 

sphere,  the  adherence  of  the  United 
States  to  the  Monroe  Doctrine  may 
force  the  United  States,  however  re- 
luctantly, in  flagrant  cases  of  such 
wrongdoing  or  impotence,  to  the 
exercise  of  an  international  police 
power." 

Viewed  in  this  way,  and  with  the 
law  of  "Hegemonic  Limitation" 
and  "Mommsen's  Law,"  "that  two- 
handed  engine  at  the  door,"  is  it  not 
desirable  that  the  still  so-called  "  Mon- 
roe Doctrine"  should  at  this  juncture 
receive  further  and  thoughtful  con- 
sideration? An  example  of  this  we 
have  had  this  evening  in  the  address  of 
Mr.  Root.  Freed  from  gloss  and  mis- 


THE  MONROE  DOCTRINE 

construction,  the  "  Doctrine  "  has  been 
brought  back'  to  a  basis  at  least  intel- 
ligible. Still,  National  Self-Compla- 
cency is  a  weakness  from  which  even 
We  are  not  altogether  exempt ;  in  cer- 
tain of  the  Pan-American  family  circle 
"Benevolent  Assimilation"  may  after 
all  be  looked  upon  as  only  a  euphe- 
mistic form  of  "Nutritive  Degluti- 
tion." The  veil  drawn  aside,  may  not 
"  Mommsen's  Law,"  in  all  its  naked- 
ness, stand  revealed?  For  now  and 
here,  as  heretofore  and  elsewhere,  — 

"  We  are  puppets,  Man  in  his  pride,  and 

Beauty  fair  in  her  flower; 
Do  we  move  ourselves,  or  are  moved  by 
an  unseen  hand  at  a  game 

42 


AND,  MOMMSEN'S  LAW 

That  pushes  us  off  from  the  board,  and 
others  ever  succeed  ? 

"  For  the  drift  of  the  Maker  is  dark,  an 

Isis  hid  by  the  veil. 
Who  knows  the  ways  of  the  world,  how 

God  will  bring  them  about  ? 
Our  planet  is  one,  the  suns  are  many, 

the  world  is  wide. 
Shall  I  weep  if  a  Poland  fall  ?  shall  I 

shriek  if  a  Mexico  fail  ? " 


CAMBRIDGE  .  MASSACHUSETTS 
U    .    S    .   A 


14  DAY  USE 

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